


Monster

by Dante_Quintana



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, I refuse to believe otherwise, Laith, Lance is very good friend (and maybe more), M/M, and Hunk immediately assumes the worst, he also cuddles in his sleep, keith is sad, klance, or Laith, whatever it is we're calling it now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 02:33:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11819397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dante_Quintana/pseuds/Dante_Quintana
Summary: Keith violently scrubbed at his hands, no no no this wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. He'd taken his gloves off to shower since he hadn't the night before, he'd been to tired and had immediately gone to sleep, not even taking off his shoes. His hands were stained purple in splotches all over, this...this couldn't be real. It had to be a dream, it just had to. He quickly shed his jacket to find the purple splotches covered his arms as well, part of his neck.No...no no no. He pulled his shirt off in a haste, sure enough he found more. They seemed to be everywhere but his face, but he doubted that would last for long. How...how had he not noticed sooner, no way these all appeared in one night. It hit him that today had been the first relaxed day in quite some time, he'd probably been too stressed or tired too notice. He scowled at himself in the mirror before turning to shower, he'd never be able to take his jacket off around anyone again. He hoped there weren't seasons in space





	Monster

Keith violently scrubbed at his hands, no no no this wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. He'd taken his gloves off to shower since he hadn't the night before, he'd been to tired and had immediately gone to sleep, not even taking off his shoes. His hands were stained purple in splotches all over, this...this couldn't be real. It had to be a dream, it just had to. He quickly shed his jacket to find the purple splotches covered his arms as well, part of his neck.

No...no no no. He pulled his shirt off in a haste, sure enough he found more. They seemed to be everywhere but his face, but he doubted that would last for long. How...how had he not noticed sooner, no way these all appeared in one night. It hit him that today had been the first relaxed day in quite some time, he'd probably been too stressed or tired too notice. He scowled at himself in the mirror before turning to shower, he'd never be able to take his jacket off around anyone again. He hoped there weren't seasons in space  
***  
Keith was off at breakfast that morning, not listening as Allura went over the plan for the day. He was brought back to reality by Shiro nudging him, an eyebrow raised. Keith shrugged and looked away so he wouldn’t have to see Shiro’s killer imitation of a concerned parent. He knew the moment he saw it he’d spill and that wasn’t what he wanted.  
***  
This planet was hot, unbearably hot and Keith regretted everything in his life that had led to this moment in time. The purple had spread to his face but thankfully he'd found some odd bottle at the space mall that was likely the space version of foundation, he’d bought it on a whim, something in his gut telling him he might need it. He was now extremely glad he did. The bottles stayed full constantly somehow, Keith didn't question it, it was his savior and that was all that mattered. He wishes he'd known that they'd be going to a hell planet so he could have covered his arms so he could take the damn jacket off.

"-eith! Earth to Keith!" Shiro's voice "huh, yeah?" he asked, meeting Shiro's worried gaze. "Are you alright?" he questioned and Keith nodded "Yeah I’m good, just hot," he responded, shoving his hands into his pockets. Shiro eyed him warily "Take your jacket off then, anyway we're splitting up into teams to try and find this lost...um...magic necklace. Keith and Hunk you go in one direction, Lance and Pidge will go in another, and Allura and I will go in the third. Meet back here in an hour?” There were a lot of alright’s and one annoyed ‘yes dad’ (most likely from Pidge)  
Soon they were all off in their own directions and fell into easy conversation with Hunk. It was hard to not get along with Hunk, and Keith questioned the sanity of anyone who didn’t. “What’s with the suicide mission?” Hunk asked, only earing a raised eyebrow from Keith. “The jacket, dude it’s like a million degrees how are you not melted or something?”

Keith just rolled his eyes “One, I’m not a popsicle Hunk, I won’t melt. Two, just don’t worry about the jacket, nothing you need to be concerned about,” Keith shrugged. He in no way expected Hunk to grab his jacket pull it off and proceed to inspect the inside of his arm.

“WOAH WOAH HEY, WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!” Keith yelled, pulling his arms back. Too surprised and mildly pissed off to even think about the purple. “You don’t just...just attack people like that man! Not cool!” When Hunk said nothing and just stared, Keith got a reality check.

“Why...uh...why are you purple?” Hunk asked, almost hesitant. The only response he got was a quiet “Oh shit,” and then Keith was running. Hunk tried to run after him, but damn could that boy go. “Shiro, we have a problem,” Hunk said into his comm “I um, I sorta lost Keith on the alien planet.”  
***  
Keith ran. He ran and he ran until his legs wouldn’t support him anymore. He has fallen several times and was bleeding from multiple scrapes but he didn’t care. He was pleased to find that he’d collapsed in front of a small cave, one that was so hidden he would never have noticed it had he not fallen. He heard the comm on his helmet crackle to life, then he heard Shiro’s voice. “Keith? Keith where are you?” Keith only scowled and turned the comm off.

He wouldn’t do this, couldn’t do this. He’d just…live the rest of his life out on this hell planet. Maybe he could talk to the locals, get them to accept him regardless of his horrible heritage. Convince them he was different. But was he really? He was one of them, what made him any better? It wasn’t like he had any redeeming qualities. No one liked Keith Kogane, it was just a fact of life. One he accepted, there was no point in denying it.

He absently wondered how long it had been, he was going to take a wild guess and say quite some time, seeing as the sky was getting darker and the air was significantly cooler. He froze as he heard footsteps, then a voice. “Keith?!” Lance’s voice, what the hell was he doing. “Dammit mullet, it’s getting cold either you or one of us is gonna freeze to death!” he yelled, it took all of Keith’s willpower not to snort.

Lance, being as overdramatic as always. He knew he was too far gone, but oh well. It wasn’t like he intended on leaving this cave and going back, and if he was found and forced back, he wasn’t leaving the room. No way in all hell. Then he heard a thud and a string of curses, he turned his head and suddenly he was eye to eye with the blue paladin who whooped.

“There you are, we’ve been looking everywhere for you! GUYS, I FOUND HIM HE’S OVER HERE!” Lance shouted, grabbing Keith’s arm to pull him out. He didn’t seem to notice the purple, but that was likely because it was almost pitch black. Keith didn’t say a word as he was dragged back to the ship, staring at the ground in silence.

The moment they were back Keith took off running again, but this time in the direction of his bedroom. He heard someone shout after him, then he heard footsteps. Keith didn’t stop, locking the door the second he was in his room. He heard someone hitting the door, yelling at him to be reasonable. Keith slid down the wall, hugging his legs to his chest and burying his face in his knees, for the first time since Shiro went missing that first time, he let himself cry.

***  
It had been 2 weeks and Keith had hardly left his room, and when Allura had turned off the lock with the main controls and tried to enter, he’d hid under a blanket and screamed at her to get out throwing anything he could. His crazy amount of pillows, books he’d found somewhere, even his knife. That was what eventually made her leave and not dare try again. The others had begged. Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Lance hell even Coran had made a few attempts. But nothing worked, he wouldn’t leave.

He was…he wasn’t human anymore. Flecks of yellow appeared in his eyes and the purple continued to spread but at a much slower rate. He would open the door every once and a while to grab food that bad been left, though he did it as little as possible. He slept a lot, and he’s pretty sure he’s broken down in these past 2 weeks more than he has in his whole life. It didn’t help that the nightmares that plagued what little sleep he got kept getting worse and worse.

The only reason he left the room was because they needed Voltron, and then he was back as quick as possible. He had silently thanked whoever had built the castle for connecting a bathroom to most all of the bedrooms.  
***  
Keith was curled into a ball on the bed. He knew this was a final attempt to get him to break, turning the air conditioner up full blast in his room. They’d just finished defeating a fleet that had attacked and Keith had just wanted to curl into the pillow/blanket fortress he’d created over the time they’d been in space. Not necessarily sleep, just once again remind himself that no matter how much he missed his friends this was for the greater good, that he stays hidden away.

Keith froze when he heard the door slide open then slide closed as someone walked in. Shit, he’d forgotten to lock it, he’d been so ready to shower and lie down, of which he’d done both though with much more shivering than he’d intended. He pulled the blanket over his head just before he felt the bed dip down beside him. “Keith...?”

Of course, of course it was Lance. The boy he was too far gone with and who also probably hated him, because he hated himself so why would anyone else give a damn. “Hey, I know you’re not asleep, it’s way too cold in here for you to be asleep,” Lance nudged him and Keith grunted in reply, tightening his grip on the blanket.

“Listen dude, we’re all worried about you. Hunk won’t tell us what it is that upset you, damn his good nature, and we don’t see you enough to figure it out. We’re scared, all of us. Even Pidge, heartless as she is, is terrified. You’re hardly eating, we know you’re not sleeping, and it’s scary. We’ve already practically lost you, we don’t want to literally lose you either.”

Keith, somewhere during Lance’s speech, had started crying again and he was angry at himself, why did he have to be so fucking weak, crying over nothing? He for once was glad for the shivering, it masked the shaking that was from the crying. Keith released the blanket with one hand, holding it over his mouth to muffle his sobs. What he didn’t expect was for Lance to rip the blanket away, and because he’d never gotten his jacket back, stare at the purple patterns all over his arm.

Suddenly he was up and making a beeline for the bathroom, using his head this time and locking the door once it had closed. Lance hadn’t moved, as far as he could tell, which didn’t help with the sobs already escaping. He sunk down onto the floor, curling in on himself. This was everything he’d dreaded and more, and he hated it. He hated himself. Why did he have to be this way, why couldn’t he just be normal, no purple spots or sickly yellow flecked eyes.

It was colder in the bathroom than in his room, despite them being right beside each other the bathroom was always slightly colder, so Allura’s little air conditioner game didn’t really help. Maybe he’d get lucky and freeze to death, he knew it was unlikely but he was allowed to hope.

He didn’t even notice the door whooshing open again, Lance had gotten (stolen) something from Allura similar to a key, but for these weird space doors. He didn’t even realize Lance had gotten up from the bed until he felt warmth surround him. “Hey, hey calm down. It’s not a big deal, so your sorta purple, who cares,” Lance spoke softly and Keith knew he should shove him away, hurl himself out into space but he wanted nothing more than to curl into Lance and sob into his shoulder and so he did, just this once would he indulge himself.

“I- I’m a monster,” he managed to get out between sobs, he hated how weak his voice sounded, how pathetic he was. Lance pulled away enough to look Keith in the eyes “No, you’re Keith,” this somehow made Keith cry harder and Lance instantly pulled him back into the hug, rubbing circles into his back and trying desperately to calm him, or at least get him to stop crying.

It took a while. A good hour, hour and a half, but Keith finally stopped crying, slowly regaining his composure. Then he jerked away so suddenly it almost physically hurt, it definitely mentally hurt, for the both of them. “You should go, I’m…I’m just not safe to be around. Ever,” Keith muttered, looking at his lap.

Lance made a noise “No way, I’ve never seen anyone cry like that, and I’ve never seen you cry period, not even almost crying,” there was concern written all across his face as he moved closer. Keith didn’t say or do anything when he was wrapped in another hug, just sat there.

Lance moved away again and Keith almost protested because it was so cold, and Lance was warm, then he remembered that he wanted to get Lance out of the room. The blue paladin had stood and held out his hand “c’mon, you’re shivering like crazy, you can stay in my room for tonight, where Allura hasn’t fucked with the temperature.

Keith protested but Lance ignored him, dragging him along no matter how much Keith tried to stop him. The red paladin had even sat down at one point but Lance had kept going, which Keith did not find to be even the slightest bit fair.

Eventually they got there and Keith wanted to go back to his room, Lance had to secretly hate him. Maybe they were coming here so Lance could kill him, goodbye to the local freak show, this is space not a circus! The thoughts wouldn’t leave Keith’s mind and he finally managed to pull his hand away from Lances. He was still cold as hell, that room had left him chilled to the bone.

“Lance, I don’t-” he stepped back when Lance tried to grab him again “I’m not...I’m not human Lance, I’m- I’m not safe. What if one day I go full Galra and I hurt you or Pidge or Shiro or Hunk or Allura or Coran-” Lance tried to interrupt but Keith kept talking, getting louder every time Lance tried to say something. Suddenly there were lips pressed against his, only for a split second, before Lance was backing up “So that’s what it takes to shut the great Keith Kogane up, I will keep that in my mind for later use.”

Lance took Keith’s hands and looked him straight in the eye “Listen to me, you won’t hurt anyone, because you know us and you care about us. We all trust you entirely and want you to be alright. All of us care, even Allura. If you’re black, blue, purple, yellow, hell turn into a rainbow for all we care, you’re still our Keith. My Keith. If it was any one of us, would you see us as any different.”

Keith frowned, because Lance was right and he knew it. He shook his head, he didn’t trust himself to speak, not now, not when everything hurt so much. Not when Lance had just kissed him to shut him up and now he was seriously considering doing the same thing because oh he’s talking again.

He doesn’t even think about it before he does what Lance did to him, though when he tried to pull away Lance isn’t having any of that. It’s messy and neither of them know what they’re doing, but it’s amazing. They eventually pull apart because they managed to headbutt each other and it actually sort of hurt.

Lance burst into full out laughter and Keith smiled a bit, rubbing his forehead “You have a hard head,” he mumbled and Lance rolled his eyes “Yeah? So do you. Now come and lie down, you’re still shaking a little,” Lance grabbed his hand and tugged him into the room. Keith followed a little hesitantly, a voice in the back of his mind still saying that this wasn’t a good idea, that he was dangerous.

He had to admit though, Lance’s room was much warmer than his. And he didn’t hate the smell, vanilla and spices. It was...nice to say the least. He didn’t realize he’d sat down on Lance’s bed until he felt it dip down beside him. “Hey, you doing alright? You still seem pretty out of it,” Lance asked, concern lacing his voice.

Keith shrugged “I honestly don’t know anymore. I don’t even think I know what alright feels like anymore,” he said it so casually, like it was no big deal and it broke Lance’s heart. Lance put a hand on the other boy’s shoulder “Maybe you’ll feel better after you get some sleep,” he said, gently pushing him back so he was lying down.

Keith shrugged “yeah maybe,” he mumbled as Lance laid down beside him, pulling the blanket over them both. Keith very quickly learned two new things about Lance, one is that he is very quick to fall asleep. The other is that he cuddles up to the nearest thing the moment he’s out. That one, Keith decides, isn’t all that bad. It still takes him quite a while to fall asleep, tangled up in Lance, but once he does he doesn’t wake up screaming from a nightmare for the first time in who knows how long.

**Author's Note:**

> I should be updating my other story and this should have been done sooner but i procrastinated (by working on my project) the thing i wrote to procrastinate updating my other thing which i started to procrastinate doing my project


End file.
